And with that, my summer Southeast Asia adventure is over. It's been a crazy 11 weeks away, and some crazy experiences. Have I learned something during this time? You betcha. Have I changed? I'll let you decide next time I see you. It's funny, we (Laetitia, Mike and I) would talk about the first thing we would do when we got back, what we would eat, what we were craving from home etc. Once we meet up in Guelph again, it will be a matter of what do we miss about Asia, what we wish we had done and so on. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side. With that, here's the list of things I will miss when I get home (in no specific order): - food in plastic bags...everything imaginable, ... read more

Anyhow, Indonesia: our last stop for Team Southeast Asia but I will be going onward to the Singapore Zoo for my last two weeks in Asia. We are in a city called Bogor, about 60 km south of Jakarta in West Java. We are working with a veterinary NGO here, CIVAS (Centre for Indonesian Analytical Studies) which was formed in 2005. Despite being such a young organization, they have accomplished a lot and I’m very impressed with the work they have done. The origins of the group lay largely in the concern of a few recent vet grads with the avian influenza problem in Indonesia. Just so you know, they have had the highest number of cases of avian influenza H5N1 in humans (102) and the most deaths (82) and continue to have outbreaks of many ... read more

It seems like a whirlwind of a month since I've been gone and I guess it has been. This is our last day in Koh Samui working at the Dog and Cat Rescue Centre and I think we're all a little sad to be leaving. Here are some of the many photos we've taken during our time here...... read more

We've been in Thailand now for just over a week...in fact, I can pinpoint what I was doing exactly a week ago but you'll have to read on for more about that! We left Siem Reap to head to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Again I was expecting extreme poverty and was a little suprised at how developed it was. We ended up being sucked into a hostel...for a mere $6/night for three of us, who could resist! It was right on the lake, and in fact you could see the water below our room through the cracks between the flooring! We only had a day and a half to explore and I think Cambodia is a country I'd like to visit again soon. Seeing the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum where ... read more

I still have one entry left from Vietnam but we're in Cambodia now so I'd thought I'd seize the moment and write an entry about our time in Siem Reap. This is the jumping point for visiting the great Temples of Angkor and to say it is a contrast from Hanoi would be an understatement. Where Hanoi was 'relatively' untouched by Western culture and tourism, Siem Reap caters to tourists with shiny restaurants, internet cafes galore, and most people speak English. In some ways, it's a welcome change to have fewer obstacles to overcome but it definitely takes away from experiencing what Cambodia is really like. Of course, that's what I get for visiting the tourist locations! Yesterday was our first venture into the temples. We decided it would be more interesting to rent some bikes ... read more